You might think it a waste of money to invest in training equipment, or maybe you just need to know where to start?
First of all, you need to know this – the ultimate purpose of training equipment is to allow you and your team to be able to practice at a higher level of intensity without risking injury. Unless your trainers are flipping idiots, your potential for things like shoulder, neck, and head injuries are dramatically decreased when using things like blocking sleds and padded dummies.  Just these two pieces of equipment alone will allow you and your team to feel similar resistance to what you’ll find on the field without having to crash head to head with another live body.

As mentioned earlier, there are just a few pieces of training equipment that, if you have them, you have an excellent start. These pieces of equipment coupled with proper coaching can quickly set you on the path to athletic excellence.

Blocking sleds are a necessity.  This is without question.   They allow for the simulation of real life blocking complete with weighted resistance of a real player (which leads to less of a chance for injuries for both players). Blocking sleds can usually be found in sporting equipment suppliers individually or up to five blocking dummies on one sled. This option is perfect for simulating a line-up on the gridiron.

If you want to make the simulation just a tad more realistic, perhaps for quick blocking drills. Look into some padded dummies.  These are filled with foam typically, or for more weight, you can find them filled with sand or beans. The sand or bean filled ones are the best value. These pads are perfect for helping players learn how to take some real weight down with the risk of injuring a real person.

For quarter backs, you need to get yourself a good weighted football.  I shouldn’t have to explain what these are for, but I will.
First of all, they’re heavier than normal footballs (hence the name weighted football). These are great for giving a quarterback more resistance when throwing, which helps make their cannons more powerful for firing out quick and accurate spirals. (Work on your finger roll technique if your spirals aren’t tight enough yet).

For your receivers, you’re going to need (or at least highly want) a jug machine. These babies fire spirals out at your receivers at varying speeds and heights without any rhyme or reason. The best of these machines have adjustable velocities and angles.

Can’t forget about the kicker can we? Your kickers needs are going to be pretty basic, but just as essential as any other players. Remember, these are your clinch guys, treat them right!  A regular kicking tee is great.  No frills. Get him practicing with a kick-off tee and a rubber block tee.  The rubber block tee will help raise the height of the tee giving them better connection percentages.
And more importantly, unless you hate your kicker, get him a kicking / punting cage. You gonna want this guy to practice his kicks and punts more than his ability to fetch his own balls (haha).  These cages are netted and as long as the kicker is aiming correctly, the ball should land right in his parameter making it easier to set-up and try again.

For all players, their is going to be pieces of equipment which they should all have, but in varied types. For example:

Shoulder pads & helmets- Two pieces of equipment that are used frequently to identify the sport of football. These pieces of football equipment are going to be varied depending on the position. If you’re in a position where you’re getting hit a lot, especially laterally, you’re going to want to get some shoulder pads which can accept a good set of restrictors such as butterfly restrictors, neck rolls and lateral restrictors. If you’re a lineman, get a helmet with some extra caging on it. They’ll keep your opponents fingers out of your eyes. Kickers, you usually don’t need much more than a single bar cage going across the front.

Gloves- Lineman and linebacker gloves have some extra padding which is perfect for their frequent contact with their hands. Unpadded hands connecting to hard football equipment is god-awful. Lineman and linebackers…you need some good padded gloves!
For your wide receivers, you’re going to want some gloves with a little extra stickiness. This will help you snatch those hail mary’s out of the air quickly and efficiently.

Cleats- Whether you’re getting screw-in or molded cleats, check the name and the quality. This is one area that a lot of players forget to pay real attention to. What height do you need? Low, 3/4-high, high? That, as usual, depends on what position you’re playing. Solitary position players can get away with low-top cleats while lineman are going to be looking for high tops and 3/4 tops. For kickers, good ole’ soccer cleats will work just fine for you but here’s a pro-tip, wear them a size smaller. It will make your task of kicking easier as they will make your feet compact and solid.

These are all core pieces of equipment. Check back later and I’ll go over some “nice to have” pieces of football training equipment.